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Owner Dumped Wolfdog At Kill Shelter When He Got Too Much To Handle, Luckily This Sanctuary Saved Him

The strength, incredible instincts, sharp intelligence, and social abilities of the wolf is what has made them one of the most respected animals in the world. The stunning animal has been featured in legends, books, movies, paintings and other products of culture for centuries which slowly taught us to appreciate them even more. So it’s understandable that people wanted to take a bit of that wilderness home. With the idea of combining the best of both worlds, people created a wolfdog. Wolfdog is basically a mixture of wolf and domestic dog, both of which are members of same Canis species.

You probably wouldn’t think twice about his descent when meeting Yuki, and no wonder why. Yuki is one of the highest content wolfdogs at the sanctuary where he is currently staying.“His DNA testing came back as 87.5 % Gray Wolf, 8.6 % Siberian Husky, and 3.9 % German Shepherd,” – a staff member of Shy Wolf Sanctuary Brittany Allen told Bored Panda.

In this photo Yuki is appearing so giant it’s intimidating, and it’s taking the internet by storm. The girl in the photo, Brittany Allen, who is 5’4, said that Yuki is not actually as large as he appears in the pic and weighs around 120 lbs. She recently hilariously responded to accusations of photoshopping the image with an Instagram post along with a caption: “The face we make when people say Yuki’s picture is Photoshopped… It’s just his fat angle guys. We all have one”.

The photo has attracted a lot of much-needed attention, helping to raise awareness and tell the both tragic and heartwarming story of a majestic wolfdog who received a second chance at life when he was rescued by Shy Wolf Sanctuary.

“We rescued him from a failed house pet situation. Someone purchased him from a breeder and realized he was too much to handle. They dumped him at a kill shelter at 8 months old. We stepped in and provided a home for him and he has been with us ever since,“ – said Brittany Allen.

“Yuki came to us in 2008. He was in reasonably good health compared to a lot of the animals that come to us and had a very outgoing personality initially. We even considered him for ambassadorship at one point. Shortly after arriving at Shy Wolf Sanctuary Yuki managed to catch a leg on a palmetto and opened up a wound on his right rear knee. The wound ended up taking a total of 5 surgeries to finally repair and in that time Yuki became cage aggressive.” – one of the directors at Shy Wolf Sanctuary added.

Volunteers of Shy Wolf Sanctuary shared pictures of Yuki at his new home from 2012 and their first impressions of his personality: “Yuki loves women, showing off to visitors, and being super goofy”.

“Yuki is one of those animals that he lets you know if he wants you in his enclosure or not. He has a very small group of women that he allows in his enclosure called his ‘harem’,” – says Judy, a volunteer at Shy Wolf Sanctuary who’s gained Yuki’s trust.

Founded in 2001 by Nancy Smith, Shy Wolf Sanctuary Education and Experience Center (SWS) provides sanctuary and rehabilitation to wild and captive bred wolves, and other exotic animals. A 2.5 acre property in Naples, Florida becomes a permanent home to over 60 captive-bred or rescued exotic animals every year.

The mission of this non-profit is to “reconnect people and animals through education”, so staff and over 30 active volunteers work year-round to not only help the neglected animals but to educate the public about the importance of protecting these animals.

Wolfdogs are considered unadoptable by domestic animal services, so Shy Wolf Sanctuary is literally their last hope to get help and find a forever home.

“They definitely are creatures that demand respect. It would be a much different encounter in the wild than what I do with these guys. The animals I work with have never been in the wild and never will be, so they are more socialized. We show off their adorable moments in the hope of helping people identify with them at least and maybe change their fear response into a healthy respect through education. And also giving an animal a chance at a decent life when otherwise they would be euthanized.” – said Brittany.

Most wolves shy away from people and are not aggressive toward them by nature, but with wolfdogs – it’s always a one-of-kind case. Wolfdogs are a mixture of traits, which results in less predictable behavior patterns compared to either the wolf or dog. So with adopting these breeds come unique challenges that people are not often aware of. Especially when purchased as a puppy, it’s impossible to predict how much wolf will be in an animal.

“Wolfdogs are a bit more difficult in my opinion because you don’t exactly know how much wolf behavior vs. dog behavior they will have. Yuki isn’t necessarily more social vs. the pure wolves. We have pure wolves who will run away when they see new people because they are generally shy, curious animals. Yuki, however will run straight to a new person and if he doesn’t like them will become aggressive towards them. With the pure wolves, once they know you and feel comfortable with you, they can be affectionate and loving but they will always be wolves you can’t get in the way of them and their food, and you must respect their boundaries. They are both social with people they accept in their space, but they are very selective as well. This also applies to other wolf/wolfdog companions. They are very selective but when they bond it is pretty unique.”

“Today, Yuki is one of the most interesting animals in the sanctuary. He is not an easy guy to get to know, but he does have a small number of volunteers he has bonded with. He has gained the nickname “Woowoo” because when he sees any of his chosen volunteers that is the noise he makes, beckoning that volunteer to come spend time with him,” – said Jeremy Albrecht.

After years of giving warmth and a loving home to Yuki, the sanctuary was struck by heartbreaking news that the wolfdog has been diagnosed with blood cancer, though you couldn’t tell just by looking at him.

“He was diagnosed with cancer last year and unfortunately it is terminal. We have dealt with this particular cancer before and ultimately you don’t really know how fast you caught it and how much time they have. Yuki has been fighting it for quite a while now and is persevering so it is business as usual while we enjoy our time with Yuki. When the day comes that he starts showing symptoms we will, as we always do, make the right decisions for Yuki’s quality of life,” – Jeremy Albrecht said. – “Saying goodbye to one of our animals is always difficult for our staff and volunteers, and Yuki will be no different. But it’s important to remember that while many of these animals have rough beginnings, their stories always have happy endings once they get to Shy Wolf Sanctuary. When their time with us is over the last thing they do is make room for our next rescue and happy ending.”

What do you think ?

I think in this case they thought they were buying a dog and ended up with a wild animal - the original owner's fault for not doing their research and the breeder's fault for not educating them. People make uninformed pet purchases all the time with wolfdogs, Bengal cats, and even tortoises. (Which is how I got my Bengal and my tortoise)

Most likely, someone wanted the cachet of 'a wolf-dog' and didn't bother to do any research on either wolfor breed of dog crossed. It's the macho-ness of having the wolfin the dog that they can brag about, consequences be damned. Look at the idiots who get a dog and think it can be kept in a pen in the back,so 'the house doesn't get messy'. Stupid people!

Beautiful and majestic creature, which probably wouldn't (shouldn’t) exist, if it wasn't for humans, who want to "take them home" as written on the intro. This clearly ain't a pet and this guy should be outside in the wilderness, where he belongs. Instead he's so focused on humans and wouldn't even be able to survive in the wild. If you think about it, it is nothing but sad. I am a big fan of wolves, but they belong in the open and not in someones house or garden. Humans... They have to domesticate everything they can. And if they don't know how to handle what they created, their solution is to kill it. I can't think of an animal that would do such cruel things. Only humans can.

Chances are he cannot - and probably never could - be out in the wilderness. He's still part dog which is why he wouldn't fit into the wild (definitely not after growing up with humans), and he's still part wolf which is why it's hard for him to fit in with humans. This shelter sounds like it's doing what it can and that's commendable but frankly I think wolf/dog breeding should either be entirely outlawed or have to follow very strict laws so these things(I bet someone bought an 'oh so cute puppy' but SUDDENLY it turned out to be 'more than they could handle' so they freaked out and left it at a kill shelter) don't happen.

No! Out in the wild is the LAST place Yuki should be. With ANY dog in his DNA, the moment he got shot (check out the wolf survival stats) and they found dog DNA in him, every wolf would be targeted even quicker, because, 'as we all know,wolf-dog crosses are treacherous,and they'd target our livestock first'. (Which is total bullshit, BTW. Only animals raised badly in domesticated circumstances would consider livestock easy food. Wild animals know there are humans there, and they don't want to be around humans.) This is the only place for him, or a home like the wildlife rehabber I once knew. She rescued 4 I know of.

This is not a wolf, and he was bred and raised a pet and has no business being outside in the wilderness, where he definitely doesn't belong. He shouldn't exist, I agree with that, but as he does, this is the best care he can be given.

Out in the wild,huh, where it can starve to death (being domesticated and never having hunted in his life) or shot by some asshole who either wants to cachet of 'killing a WOLF' or because the poor thing would have no fear of humans and would just stand there, waiting to be petted. At his age,you simply cannot rehab him into the wild.The man who bred for him should have been shot.Slowly. In every painful spot he has. The only place left for this poor animal is a sanctuary of some kind.

I had friend who has a wolf dog hybrid. They are very hard to handle. The dog was very sweet, but you could never leave her alone. Shes now an ESA dog, and totally not capable of being one, but he had to make her one to take her everywhere. Her quality of life isnt what it should be for a breed like her. I wish people would do more research when they get animals like this.

Every wolfhound description I know emphasizes how you cannot leave them alone. You need to have several in an outdoor enclosure with an enormously high fence. The informations are out there - it needs a really large amount of Stupid to ignore them. Or maybe it's arrogance - I see way to many terrible human/dog pairing which are the rsult of an arrogant human with an inflated self-esteem who believes he/she is SO very clever or SO very fit that they need extreme specialist dogs. Who in his right mind gets a cathahoula leapard dog when living a city life???

And who gets a young labrador retriever and then is afraid to let it play with other dogs, like the one woman at the dog park who insists on taking her dog into the small dog area and even when invited to come into the big dog area where there's nothing but out gentle greyhound and cocker spaniel is still afraid for the dog? Why deprive a dog like that? I want to just go and take it away from her! People make stupid, stupid decisions about dogs ALL the time. It's not hard to do research -- five minutes on Google will tell you everything you need to know!

I think in this case they thought they were buying a dog and ended up with a wild animal - the original owner's fault for not doing their research and the breeder's fault for not educating them. People make uninformed pet purchases all the time with wolfdogs, Bengal cats, and even tortoises. (Which is how I got my Bengal and my tortoise)

Most likely, someone wanted the cachet of 'a wolf-dog' and didn't bother to do any research on either wolfor breed of dog crossed. It's the macho-ness of having the wolfin the dog that they can brag about, consequences be damned. Look at the idiots who get a dog and think it can be kept in a pen in the back,so 'the house doesn't get messy'. Stupid people!

Beautiful and majestic creature, which probably wouldn't (shouldn’t) exist, if it wasn't for humans, who want to "take them home" as written on the intro. This clearly ain't a pet and this guy should be outside in the wilderness, where he belongs. Instead he's so focused on humans and wouldn't even be able to survive in the wild. If you think about it, it is nothing but sad. I am a big fan of wolves, but they belong in the open and not in someones house or garden. Humans... They have to domesticate everything they can. And if they don't know how to handle what they created, their solution is to kill it. I can't think of an animal that would do such cruel things. Only humans can.

Chances are he cannot - and probably never could - be out in the wilderness. He's still part dog which is why he wouldn't fit into the wild (definitely not after growing up with humans), and he's still part wolf which is why it's hard for him to fit in with humans. This shelter sounds like it's doing what it can and that's commendable but frankly I think wolf/dog breeding should either be entirely outlawed or have to follow very strict laws so these things(I bet someone bought an 'oh so cute puppy' but SUDDENLY it turned out to be 'more than they could handle' so they freaked out and left it at a kill shelter) don't happen.

No! Out in the wild is the LAST place Yuki should be. With ANY dog in his DNA, the moment he got shot (check out the wolf survival stats) and they found dog DNA in him, every wolf would be targeted even quicker, because, 'as we all know,wolf-dog crosses are treacherous,and they'd target our livestock first'. (Which is total bullshit, BTW. Only animals raised badly in domesticated circumstances would consider livestock easy food. Wild animals know there are humans there, and they don't want to be around humans.) This is the only place for him, or a home like the wildlife rehabber I once knew. She rescued 4 I know of.

This is not a wolf, and he was bred and raised a pet and has no business being outside in the wilderness, where he definitely doesn't belong. He shouldn't exist, I agree with that, but as he does, this is the best care he can be given.

Out in the wild,huh, where it can starve to death (being domesticated and never having hunted in his life) or shot by some asshole who either wants to cachet of 'killing a WOLF' or because the poor thing would have no fear of humans and would just stand there, waiting to be petted. At his age,you simply cannot rehab him into the wild.The man who bred for him should have been shot.Slowly. In every painful spot he has. The only place left for this poor animal is a sanctuary of some kind.

I had friend who has a wolf dog hybrid. They are very hard to handle. The dog was very sweet, but you could never leave her alone. Shes now an ESA dog, and totally not capable of being one, but he had to make her one to take her everywhere. Her quality of life isnt what it should be for a breed like her. I wish people would do more research when they get animals like this.

Every wolfhound description I know emphasizes how you cannot leave them alone. You need to have several in an outdoor enclosure with an enormously high fence. The informations are out there - it needs a really large amount of Stupid to ignore them. Or maybe it's arrogance - I see way to many terrible human/dog pairing which are the rsult of an arrogant human with an inflated self-esteem who believes he/she is SO very clever or SO very fit that they need extreme specialist dogs. Who in his right mind gets a cathahoula leapard dog when living a city life???

And who gets a young labrador retriever and then is afraid to let it play with other dogs, like the one woman at the dog park who insists on taking her dog into the small dog area and even when invited to come into the big dog area where there's nothing but out gentle greyhound and cocker spaniel is still afraid for the dog? Why deprive a dog like that? I want to just go and take it away from her! People make stupid, stupid decisions about dogs ALL the time. It's not hard to do research -- five minutes on Google will tell you everything you need to know!